Another Perspective
by TheTrueHalfBloodPrincess
Summary: Summary inside, not sure whether to continue or not, opinions always welcome, M x
1. Summary

**Summary**

Not all you know is true... The truth is always being twisted... By reporters and writers... And the truth behind these stories can take a while to be uncovered... Sometimes all you need is another perspective...

This is the tale of a young boy, not to unsimialar to Harry Potter himself. A boy who ends up being feared by the majority of his community, Thomas Marvolo Riddle. Maybe the truth behind his story has been covered up too. Maybe not all of his choices were so drastic and crazy as everyone first thought. Maybe he had his reasons too.

All you've been told before will stand true no longer. All you thought you knew is about to be turned upside down and corrected.

Finally, the real story is out...


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1 - The meeting**

You knew today was special. From the very moment you opened your eyes. You could sense it. Something was coming that would make everything better. Something that would help you realise just who you were. You knew you were different. It had been apparent to you for months. It started when you just wished Billy Stubbs would shut up. You had felt it. It had started in your stomach and grew until you could feel this strange sensation throughout your whole body. That's when you realised, the room around you had grown silent. Just as you had hoped. Turning round you notice everyone looking at Billy, his mouth was covered by thick tape. As if it had appeared out of nowhere. But that was only the first of a few strange occurrences. Only two weeks later, and you were on the train. Along with all the other kids from the orphanage. You were going to the zoo, it had taken months to persuade Mrs Cole to let you go. Everyone around you was excited, jumping up and down, but you were the exception. As always. Standing quietly alone against a concrete pillar, your thoughts started to wander. Without realising you had got on the train with the others and had arrived at the zoo when you broke away from your daydream. As you walked along you thought about how one day you would teach all of these bullying little idiots a lesson. You had once again forgotten where you were, when you turned around and looked straight into the eyes of an anaconda. At first you thought you were imagining it. The small voice speaking simultaneously with the snake. No one could hear animals surely, you thought it had been your tiredness catching up on you at last when you heard the voice again.

'Please set me free' it said this time a little louder. You turned back around. It cant have been. 'Please help me. All I want to do is go back home'

Still not breaking your eyes away from the snakes, you feel the rest of your group bustle out to find something more interesting.

You start off by whispering 'How can I help you?' startling yourself with the odd hissing noises escaping your throat. You reach out towards the glass, amazingly your hand goes straight through. You lift the snake. Its dry scales feeling almost distant as you take her out of the enclosure and wrap her body round your neck. You finally get to grips with this new language. Continuing the conversation the snake tells you her name is Smijar . And that she is guarding her egg. You hear a rustle from behind you and turn your head just in time to see little Billy hurrying off round the corner. Smijar tells you that she wont manage to make it out. So asks you to care for her unborn child, you are instructed to call it Nagini, after her great grandmother, the last in their line to be free. You take the egg and safely store it in your pocket just as the zookeeper comes in, seeing the snake around your neck he automatically lifts a gun to his shoulder and shoots the snake dead. Tears fill you eyes as your new found friend's lifeless body is pulled harshly off of you and dropped to the ground. You reach out your fingers to stroke her head, silently promising that you will do everything to get revenge but mainly keep her child safe.

Nagini slides onto your lap now a month old, she has hatched but is still tiny. She is your greatest friend, and you tell her everything. From how you love the colour green to how much you hate this 'prison' and your 'inmates'. The knock on your door reminds you where you are. Quickly hiding Nagini, you answer the door.

Standing patiently in the hall way is Mrs Cole along with a young man dressed in a suit. He asks you if he could come in to talk to you, you reluctantly agree as Mrs Cole gives you a glare from behind his head. He introduces himself as Professor Dumbledore. Before turning and politely asking your carer to leave.

'Professor' you say turning the word round in your mouth, 'Is that like 'doctor'? What are you here for? Did she get you in to have a look at me?' You pointed at the door through which Mrs Cole had just left.

'No no' said the man smiling.

'I don't believe you,' you say surprised at how fierce your voice had sounded. 'She wants me looked at, doesn't she? Tell the truth!'

You speak the last three words as a command. Your eyes widened, glaring at the stranger before you, who continued to smile back pleasantly. Eventually you stop glaring but sit dead still as though you were a tigeress waiting for the moment to jump and land on her unsuspecting prey.

'Who are you?'

'I have already told you. My name is Professor Dumbledore and I work at a school called Hogwarts. I have come to offer you a place -'

You leap away knocking your chair over in the process. Your back pressed firmly against the wall. Ensuring you are as far away from this monstrosity as possible.

'You cant kid me! The asylum, that's where you're from, isn't it 'Professor'?'

'I'm not from the asylum' the young man continued patiently 'I am a teacher and, if you will sit down calmly, I shall tell you about Hogwarts. Of course if you'd rather not come, nobody will force you-'

'I'd like to see them try!'

'- Hogwarts' he continued seeming not to notice your comment 'is a school for special people, with special abilities -'

'I am not mad!'

'I know that you are not mad. Hogwarts is not a school for mad people. It is a school of magic.'

There was silence.

'Magic?'

'That's right'

'Its... its magic, what I can do?'

He smiled

'I knew I was different, I knew I was special, better than them. Always, I knew there was something'

'Well you were quite right. You are a wizard.'

You look back up at him 'Are you a wizard too?'

'Yes I am'

'Prove it' you say, in a commanding tone.

'If as I understand it, you are taking your place at Hogwarts- '

'I am'

'Then you will address me as 'Professor' or 'sir'.'

Your face stiffens slightly before relaxing back, 'I'm sorry, sir. I meant - please, Professor, could you show me -?'

The stranger opposite pulled out a long stick of twisted wood. And pointed it straight at your wardrobe. And flicked his wrist.

Your wardrobe burst into flames.

You jump to your feet howling in shock and rage. All of a sudden the flames vanished leaving your wardrobe unharmed.

'I think there is something trying to get out of your wardrobe' he said ignoring your shocked face staring at his wand in amazement.

You could just hear a rattling sound emerging from your wardrobe.

'Open the door'

You hesitated but went towards the shabby door. Opening it you notice the shoe box on the top shelf rattling around. You take it down and place it on your desk.

'Is there anything in that box which you ought not to have?'

'Yes, I suppose so sir' you say finally flabbergasted.

'Open it' your soon to be teacher said.

You took off the lid and place one by one every object from the box in a straight line across your desk.

'You will return them to their owners with your apologies. I shall know whether it has been done. And be warned: thieving is not tolerated at Hogwarts.' he said calmly 'You may keep the snake, but only because you were asked to care for it.' Tears suddenly sprung to your eyes remembering the snake.

Dumbledore sprang to his feet. 'I am sure you would rather go alone to Diagon alley to purchase your books. Find the leaky cauldron and ask the barman, Tom'

You shudder.

'You do not like your name?' he inquired.

'There are a lot of Toms. Was my father a wizard? He shares my name.'

'I am afraid I do not know'

He handed over an envelope, then turned to leave.

'I can speak to snakes. Is that normal for a wizard?'

'It is unusual' he replied after a moments hesitation 'but not unheard of'. The man then left without turning back.


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2 - Shopping**

You were walking the streets of London when you noticed the unremarkable signpost. Straight ahead of you was the building you had been instructed to find. The Leaky Cauldron. You walk in, out of the rain and into a warm dimly lit room with a friendly atmosphere. Walking up to the bar, a few people turned to look at you but found that you weren't anything special so turned back around.

'Are you Tom?' you question the young man stood behind the bar wiping down glasses.

'Yes I am what can I do for you?'

'Professor Dumbledore told me to ask you how to get into Diagon Alley.'

'Aaarh yes follow me'

You follow him loyally to a brick wall and frown. It was a dead end. He drew out his wand. You shudder as it looks as though he is going to attack you but he quickly taps the wall gently against an unremarkable brick, soothing your fears. The bricks around it started to shift opening up to form some kind of gateway. 'Through there' he said kindly 'You will want to check your list for the shops you need'

You walk through the arch. While Tom turns back towards the stone building. The wall closes up behind you creating a barrier between you and the muggle world. You look around you and gasp. Not one person was wearing trousers. Every man, woman and child had some form of dress on often with a cloak covering it. You spot your first target. Ollivanders. As you walk in a bell tinkles. The old man behind the counter greets you. His wise deep voice says 'I assume you are looking for your first wand.' You nod back. He starts measuring all parts of your body, finally rushing down one row of shelves and returning with a wand. He hands it to you before saying 'Go on, wave it!' You do so and all the glass around you promptly shatters. 'Oh dear, I think not' he says swishing his own wand to return his shop to its previous state. Seconds later, he was back holding another wand, you wave it and this time gold sparks shoot upwards. 'Yes, perfect, this is the wand for you! Phoenix feather core, how interesting!' You pay him with the strange coins Dumbledore had given you, with quite a lot of help. In the process Mr Ollivander teaches you the names and quantities of each of the coins. You thank him and leave the shop happy with your first purchase.

Stepping back into the rain, you find the list from your pocket and check what you need to buy next. Robes. You guessed these were what all the others around you were wearing rather than dresses. Madam Malkins that was the name of the shop you were searching for. Currently unable to spot it you walk further up the alleyway. Eventually you notice the shop, but only because you had noticed a small family leaving with bags with the name on.

Walking in an icy blast of air hits you, a shiver runs down your spine subconsciously. Straight in front of you is a youngish woman with curly blond hair.

'First year?' she asks without looking up from the robes she is pinning.

'Um.. yeah' you reply assuming it was a lucky guess.

'Follow me'

You follow her through to the back where you do as she asks.

Half an hour later you leave, new robes in hand.

Again you walk out into the rain. It had virtually stopped by now. Only small light droplets hitting your face at irregular intervals. You spot the bookshop opposite the one you had just left. As you walk in the number of students milling around talking amazes you. Spotted by the owner, he walks up to you. 'What year?' he asks unsavourily. 'first' you reply wondering why he asked. He hurries off while you stand there still taking it all in. Moments later he returns carrying a large pile of books. 'That'll be 11 stickles, 5 knuts' he said harshly. Having had enough of this bizarre atmosphere for one day you decide to leave and go back to the orphanage.


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3 - A first glimpse**

Your eyes flash across the station, taking in the atmosphere. You look for your desired station. You head towards platform 9 automatically assuming it would be nearby. Ahead of you is platform 10, behind you is platform 9. You look around. As you had expected, Platform 9 and ¾ was nowhere to be seen.

Deciding that finding the sign will be an impossible task. You begin to look for someone who may be heading for the same destination as you, Hogwarts. You struggle in finding someone. You realise that most of your fellow students will have been brought up by other witches and wizards and therefore already know how to disguise the fact that they are not muggles.

Then around the corner came a young boy only about a year older than you. He was pushing a trolley containing the boy's luggage and, carefully balanced on top, an old metal cage holding a white screeching snowy owl. The owl was gripping the metal mesh bottom of the cage tightly as it attempted to keep itself and its cage upright.

The boy clutched the handles tighter simultaneously breaking into a run; he was heading straight towards a pillar. Your body begins to subconsciously laugh, as you believe he's going to crash straight into it at full speed. However, your laugh catches in your throat, shocked at the mysterious happening. You head towards the pillar to investigate. Noticing the boy's parents also heading in the same direction, you follow them, struggling under the weight of your own chest.

You stumble through the pillar ungraciously. The sudden change in atmosphere shocks you. The joyful laughing fills your ears; happy goodbyes being exchanged and even a few sad tears escaping parent's eyes.

You see the boy again, hugging his mother goodbye. He boards the train…The train, you hadn't noticed it yet. It looked brand new, possibly only used once or twice before. Or maybe it had just been repainted? It's body was painted a glittering purple and thick smoke emerged from its funnel, filling the station.

A man pushing children towards the train catches your attention, you climb aboard seeing as that is what you thought was expected of you. Inside it appeared much larger than you had previously thought. You drag your trunk to an empty compartment and settle down in the corner, after shutting the door firmly behind you.

You watch the countryside sliding past and notice quickly that the train was still picking up speed. Quicker and quicker the landscape passes by. When it reaches its top speed all you can see is a blur of blue and green out of the weather beaten glass. Unsure of what to do, you quickly change into your new robes and sit back down. You wonder how long this extraordinary journey was going to take.

Drifting into sleepy dreams of the coming year, you distantly hear a carriage door slide open. You unwillingly open your eyes to find a girl poking her head into your compartment. You gave her a quick glance over and come to the conclusion that she is a first year judging by her crisp new robes and young, fresh look.

She was rather pretty, her large deep dark eyes staring straight back at you curiously. Her beautiful girly voice broke the unnerving silence, by asking whether she could join you. Your own curiosity makes your head nod automatically. She drags her own trunk in, just as you had only minutes previously. She sits down gracefully directly opposite you, leaning her chin on her hands. Her eyes burn deep into your own, burrowing their way in, attempting to discover details about your past, present and future.

She frowned and broke the silence once again. Your name, she wanted to know your name and you answer her in a sharp tone shocking the both of you. You apologise for the unthinking fury and ask for her name in return, you discover the girl's name to be Violet.

The carriage falls into silence, her eyes still piercing your skin, unforgiving yet lovable. You realise that for the past minute you had been watching her, your lips slowly working their way upwards into a vaguely recognisable smile. You turn your head sharply back to the window, bringing your mind back to the present. Not in the dream playing round your head of the girl.

You could feel her persistent gaze on your profile causing all the hairs on the back of your neck to stand on end. You realise that you still don't know a thing about the girl sitting opposite you, except that she was abnormally pretty and that her name is Violet. Oh and that she appears to either be crazy or obsessed with you.

Not knowing what to ask first, you turn back to her. She appears to understand, telling you what you were hoping to find out. She lives in the outskirts of London with her parents. Your assumptions were correct, she was in her first year and expected to be sorted into Ravenclaw following the tradition of her family. You shoot her a look of confusion and she explains to you about the houses.

You consider Gryffindor, brave, bold, daring and noble; Hufflepuff, dedicated, hard working, and kind; Ravenclaw, intelligent, witty, and creative and, finally, Slytherin for those destined to be great. You hope that you will be in Slytherin, even though you'd rather like to be sorted into Ravenclaw like Violet.

The train shudders to a halt suddenly, causing you to almost fall off of your seat. She helps you up and guides you towards the rest of your year. In the midst of the crowd, a large boy stands out. He's almost twice the size of the other students and has dark, messy hair falling round his shoulders He's looking at his feet, which he's shuffling round nervously.

An older man calls you towards him. You assume he is one of your new teachers or professors as that is what you were instructed to call them. You follow his orders climbing into a small boat with 7 other students.

The professor reaches down, nudging the boat into the jet black water causing it to rock dangerously. There is only one girl in the boat, yet all of your companions, you notice, are gripping the sides of the vessel tightly.

You hear a quiet gasp and look up following the awed gazes of your companions. In front of you stands a great towering castle, flickering candle light shines through thousands of windows, standing side by side in neat, uniform lines.

Your mind brings you back to the last time you visited a castle:

…'Oi Freak!' you spin around looking in the direction the voice had come from. The voice calls again echoing down the stone halls,

'Don't you want to play?' The teasing voice bitterly calls, 'Come on Freak'. Another voice breaks in, sending shudders down your spine.

'Yeah Freak, come on, we want to play!' A tall boy walks into the circular hall quickly followed by twelve others.

They grab your arms as you attempt to get away, struggling like crazy; they drag you up a steep stone staircase by your feet roughly, your head hitting each step hard, the sharp corners causing pain to run through you. You feel a warm thick liquid starting to edge its way through your hair. Your head swims. The world goes black as you lose consciousness.

Your eyes flicker open. Your head pounds. You see black, just black. You let out a pain filled groan. Attempting to lift your body from the cold stone you realise you can't move…


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4 - The Sorting**

**.**..'No!' You shout, tears attempting to form behind your eyes. The others turn round to stare at you, rocking the boat dangerously. You blink back the tears and apologise to them for your sudden outburst. You push the memories away but still knowing that they would return as always that night. At least you know which it will be. His face. Haunting you. Endlessly. Your body jolts forward as the boat hits the shore. You climb out slowly, trying to lose the queasy feeling starting in your stomach. As soon as your feet make contact with solid ground once more, you feel bodies pushing into your back. Pulling you further and further into the swarms of older students. It reminds you of drowning, the high pressures, the lack of air, the immense heat. Suddenly, it becomes too much, struggling to reach the surface, you shove your way to the edge. Panting and taking in all of the air your lungs could gather, you stumble as a boy pushes you viciously out of his way. You are about to hit the ground when you are pulled up by an older woman shouting at the passing students. She checks you are ok before leading you over to a queue of first years waiting patiently in front of a pair of large oak doors. At the head of the queue, you notice, stood the man you recognised from the summer as professor Dumbledore. You smile nervously at him as his eyes make contact with yours. He smiles back and continues skimming his glittering eyes over the heads of your peers.

You feel a finger poking your back impatiently. Turning round you find Violet standing behind you.

'Oh... um... hi?' You stammer, amazed that this beautiful girl chose to come over and speak to you. The rest of the line turns around at the sound of her voice. You notice their eyes looking at her then you then back to her again, clearly also shocked that she chose you of all people.

'Hey!' She replies casually, breaking your chain of thought. You notice she manages to ignore the surrounding onlookers as though it was the most natural thing in the world to do.

Suddenly the doors before you swing open. The first years all turned to face them as a nervous silence fell over the anxious group.

You feel Violets hand gripping yours gently sending a jolt of electric energy pulsing round your body at the contact. You feel her breath in your ear as she quietly whispers into your ear. 'Good Luck!' She gives your hand a light squeeze before dropping it as though nothing had happened.

You follow the line, filing into the great hall. The whole room was basked in a golden glow from the thousands of candles lining the walls and floating magically above the five tables. The loud chattering died down as you stand against the wall next to Violet and the remainder of your year. The hall fell into complete silence as an old man sat in the centre of the head table rises to his feet. You assume he is the head. He introduces himself as Professor Dippet and announces the begging of the sorting before sitting down once more. Another man then enters the hall carrying an old battered and well worn hat. His thick greasy dark hair hangs limply at his shoulders in shiny strands. He gently places the hat on a three legged stool in the centre of the hall before turning sharply on his heal and exiting, grumbling slightly under his breath.

You stare in awe at the hat. Which appeared to have opened a pair of eyes and started looking round the hall. You blink hard, expecting this strange occurrence to vanish once you open them once more. However the eyes did not vanish and the scenario was made even stranger when a large fold opened almost on the brim of the hat as a mouth which then, to your utter amazement, started singing...

"In times of old, when I was new,

And Hogwarts barely started,

The founders of our noble school

Thought never to be parted.

United by a common goal,

They had the selfsame yearning

To make the world's best magic school

And pass along their learning.

"Together we will build and teach"

The four good friends decided.

And never did they dream that they

Might some day be divided.

For were there such friends anywhere

As Slytherin and Gryffindor?

Unless it was the second pair

Of Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw,

So how could it have gone so wrong?

How could such friendships fail?

Why, I was there, so I can tell

The whole sad, sorry tale.

Said Slytherin, "We'll teach just those

Whose ancestry's purest."

Said Ravenclaw, "We'll teach those whose

Intelligence is surest."

Said Gryffindor, "We'll teach all those

With brave deeds to their name."

Said Hufflepuff, "I'll teach the lot

And treat them just the same."

These differences caused little strife

When first they came to light.

For each of the four founders had

A house in which they might

Take only those they wanted, so,

For instance, Slytherin

Took only pure-blood wizards

Of great cunning just like him.

And only those of sharpest mind

Were taught by Ravenclaw

While the bravest and the boldest

Went to daring Gryffindor."

A few minutes later the hat stops it's song. The hall fell into clapping and cheering. Professor Dumbledore then starts to unroll a scroll reading off the first name, 'Abbott Alexander', causing the hall to go silent once more. The boy, clearly nervous, made his way across to the stool and barely manages to sit down before the hat loudly announces 'Ravenclaw'. One of the four long tables start to whooping and cheering. As the boy joins them, you notice they are all wearing blue. Ignoring the hat and Dumbledore continually calling names, you notice each of the other tables similarly dressed but each in different colours; one red, one yellow and, one green.

Finally you hear your name being called, you smile nervously over at Violet. The walk seemed to take hours, your knees weak with nerves. Eventually you reach the stool. You sit down. And put the hat onto your head. An unusual voice fills your head. 'You'd fit well in Griffindor but also Slytherin. Hmmm... decisions decisions... what do you think?' You think back to earlier when Violet was describing the different houses. Slytherin you think... Please be Slytherin... Anything but Griffindor. The voice fills your head once more 'If you are sure? You would do well in Griffindor. Well, Slytherin it is then.'

'Slytherin' You hear the hat call. The table filled with students wearing green gives a loud cheer. You look back at Violet as you walk over giving her a small sad smile. She returns it but quickly turns her back on you and starts talking and laughing with her new friends.

You spend the duration of the feast absentmindedly swirling the food round your plate with a fork. Your mind and eyes focused on the stunning form not five meters from you. You wish that you could be sat there next to her right now. Laughing with her. Meeting new people. But instead you were sat surrounded by strangers in your own world, completely lost in your thoughts. You missed her. It shocked you that it was possible to miss someone so much for only being away from them for a few minutes. Especially with the little you knew of her and the few words which had passed between you.

You were still sat quietly, completely ignorant of the chatter around you, when the rest of your table stands to leave in unison. A boy with white blond hair and shockingly unnaturally pale skin grips your shoulder sharply, pulling you to your feet and along with the remainder of your house.

Once you have found your feet he lets go, introducing himself as Abraxas. As you approach the common room you learn that it is in the dungeons and the current password is 'pure-blood'.

It is shockingly dark inside, glowing a sickly green colour. However this slips your attention as you continue to follow Abraxas up to your shared dorm.

Once you arrive you find that it is larger than you had expected. Far larger than any room from your orphanage. You notice five other students gathered round a bed under the window skwabelling about who should have it. You manage to immediately overrule them all as you sit down on the bed and telling them all to clear off or else. They instinctively obey your commanding tone moving away to let you be. You lean back against the pillow to relax slightly as you listen to the continued arguments. Losing yourself to sleep, the world dims around you.

Your eyes flicker open. Your head pounds. You can see black. Just black. You release a pain filled groan that you did not know you were holding in. Attempting to lift yourself from the cold stone you realize you cannot move. You can hear Mrs Cole calling your name distantly, and then, to your horror, that horrible teasing voice replying merrily with, 'I think he might have run off Miss, the last time I saw him he was asking me if I knew where the exit was. Of course I didn't tell him. Maybe he will be gone for good Miss. Fine thing too if you ask me. It'll be a nicer place without him. And, Miss if you don't mind me saying, we cant wait here all day either. The bus does have to leave and if we don't hurry then we will be stuck here all night.'

You open your mouth to scream, but its clamped firmly shut. Your body loses all of its strength. You lay there helpless listening to Billy spreading his lies and telling everyone to leave without you, saying that you are just doing this for attention. And that if they left you'd get what you deserved.

Far below you can hear the children chatting away. The words merge into a confusing blur. You feel faint. Using all your remaining strength to stay conscience. You scream.

Sitting up in your bed, your head hurts. You put your hand up. Carefully tracing the scar left from that horrible day, reminding you that it is all just history now. And needs to be forgotten and left behind. You untangle yourself from the duvet, sweat acting as an unhelpful glue. You rise to your knees and look out of the window. You find yourself looking out into the depths of a lake. Fish lazily swimming by in the murky green waters. Around five minutes later, you lay back down onto your bed. Listening to your roommates gentle snores you begin to calm down. You decide not to take the risk of falling asleep once more so you lift yourself from the bed to get dressed and ready for the coming day. You gather a few new textbooks, and head down to the common room.


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5 - First Day**

You select an armchair and drag it into the darkest corner in the common room. Settling down you lose yourself into the textbook absorbing every word as if it was written by the gods. Time whizzes past you, unnoticed. You are shocked out of your trance as a quiet chatter fills your ears. You reluctantly look up from the new white pages. The once empty common room is now filled with passing students. All flowing like a colourful swarm of black and green fish. You notice that all the age groups appear together. You sit watching all the third years leaving first dressed identically in their black robes. About ten minutes later the common room falls back into its comfortable silence. However, the silence is broken just as quickly and sharply as a braking mirror. The clumsy second years tumbled through the room together with your year rushing to get to the hall as quickly as possible to get the best of the food. As they leave you sigh in relief at the peacefulness. Finally getting back to your book, the silence is broken once more the fourth, fifth, and six years drag themselves through the room reluctantly. You give up deciding just to watch the students passing. The girls pass in swarms, arms linked, chatting wildly catching up on what they have missed over the holidays. The boys also passed in groups but they where all either silent or talking in brief, short sentences or grunts. Eventually the crowds stopped. No more muffled footsteps or ear piercing squeals of laughter. Finally believing that all the students have already passed you to the hall, you start to head back to your bedroom to put the book away and finish getting ready for the coming day. Just as you manage to prise yourself from the seat and reach the doorway up to the dorms, through the door fell the seventh years. You sink back into the chair in the corner to watch the anomaly of a year. The most of them sat in the ring of sofas in the centre of the room with the few others gathering parchment, ink and quills and noting down everyone's orders. Intrigued at where the older students get their breakfast you quietly follow them out and into the brighter corridor.

You slam your eyelids shut as you enter the hallway. The stunning light stinging your eyes. You open them just in time to see the tail of a cloak sailing round a corner. You chase after it, as a cat would after seeing a mouse's tail. The older students lead you to a dead ended corridor. The walls where covered with a selection of various paintings. You watch as one of the group reaches up to a portrait of a bowl of fruit and starts to tickle a pear. The canvas swings back revealing a doorway the students climb through quickly, letting the painting close behind them. You start to approach the picture when you hear muffled sounds of goodbye coming from behind it. You turn and race back down the corridor so as not to be caught. You hear a slight creak and realising that the sound was coming from the hinges of the painting, you dive into a shadowy corner. Curling up as small as you could go and wrapping your cloak around you, you hear voices pass you. You lift your head just to see them disappear off. You stand stretching your legs simultaneously and dust yourself down. Ensuring there were no other students nearby you walk up to the portrait curiously. You stand on tiptoes and reach up to stroke the drip shaped fruit. You watch as it starts giggling. Smoothly the painting rotates allowing you access to the door behind. Your hand clutches the handle nervously, and telling yourself not to be such a wuss, you pull the door open.

A large kitchen is revealed before you. An overwhelming cloud of heat hangs overhead from the ovens. Rows of long metal counters stand in dead straight lines all leading away from you and only a meter or two between them. The surface leaves glowing dots on your eyelids as the light bounces around violently. You feel a couple of vicious tugs at the hem of your robe and you look down to investigate. There at your feet stood a little green person. You gasp silently at the sight of her unconsciously leaving your mouth hanging slightly open. She was just taller than your knee height, her pointed ears counting for at least the last inch. She had huge tennisball-like eyes in a smokey shade of green. Her nose was an awkward blob which was slightly upturned. You are broken out of your surprised trance by a gentle murmuring of 'Are you okay, Sir?' Yours eyes flicked to hers. Still slightly shocked at the fact this odd creature could talk, the words pass your lips without thinking about them. 'Errrm ... Yerr ... I'm ... I'm fine thanks errrr... What's your name?'

'Mitzi, Sir. What can we do for you?' Replied the way too polite little voice.

'Well... Nothing really. I was just following them and ended up well... Here!' You say nervously pointing over your shoulder towards the door. 'I will just be going then.'

'No no no. Don't go. It'd be no good to let Sir leave with no breakfast.'

'Your okay then?' You say as the elf drags you further into the room.

'What would Sir like?'

Stunned into silence at the fact you were now surrounded by these bizarre creatures you slowly find yourself saying 'What is there?'

The elves all start talking at once. Your eyes open wide as they all list what they could make. Almost every dish you had ever tasted was on the list and many you had never heard of was mentioned. In fact now you were thinking about it, most of these you hadn't heard of. When they finally stopped, you didn't have a clue what to say. 'Errrr well, what do you recommend?' At these words at least twenty creatures left. Sounds of every sort slowly started to fill your ears. Less than a minute later the elves reappeared between them holding a large plate of pancakes covered in some sort of sweet sticky sauce and a glass of something that looked like orange juice but smelt of something most defiantly not orangey. You ask what it is and they tell you its pumpkin juice. They also say that it is a popular choice with the students and it is almost traditional for the Hogwarts students to have a glass of pumpkin juice with their meals.

You just manage to get away, out of the elf filled kitchen, as the bell rings for your first lesson. You wipe the last traces of juice from your mouth and head back the way you had previously come from. As soon as you manage to leave the dim corridor you are dragged along by a thick stream of students. You find yourself completely surrounded and crushed. Crushed... No. You stop your thoughts just as the slightest trace of tears can be seen in the corners of your eyes. The claustrophobic thoughts slowly start getting at you. You start heading for anywhere you can get clean air. A small corridor finally manages to appear and you head towards it. You fall into the sudden clearing, straight into another student. The fragile arms grip you gently helping you to your feet. Once you had managed to stand by yourself once more you look up, following the shape of your saviours arms, up to their delicate face. A thin pale chin leads up into large dark eyes.

'Oh... Umm hi?' you say as you realise that those beautiful eyes belonged to the girl you met yesterday. Her name... Ummm... Oh yerh, Violet.

'Oh god... What are you?... Some sort of stalker?' She frowns at you and walks off quickly. Her groupies following after her at her heels.

You could still feel the ghost of Violets arms wrapped round your body. You feel salty tears starting to sting the corners of your eyes.

Another bell sounds, shattering the ghostly figure, you rush off. Following the path of the corridor which Violet had just rushed off down. Violet. The beautiful, wonderful Violet. The stunning girl. Who's scared of you. Doesn't want to ever see your face again. Violet. The prickeling in your eyes starts again. No. You won't just break over some girl.

You turn the final corner to see the last of your potions class disappearing into the dungeon.


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6 - First day in class**

You sit down next to Abraxas, nervously looking round for your teacher, however, it soon became apparent to you that there was no one but students in sight. You drag your eyes back to the front wondering whether wizarding schools actually had teachers. You watch in amazement as a long stream of curling writing appears on the board as if it was being written by an invisible hand. A man steps out of the shadows to your left. You jump as he appears. He introduces himself as a Professor Slughorn. He has short curly dark hair. You remember seeing him the previous evening in the great hall when an older student had pointed out your head of house. His eyes were a bright glittering green, slytherin green, but large dark circles hung below them. He appeared rather young yet there were a few wrinkles scattered lazily across his face, you recognise these as similar to those that appear when someone frowns. You listen to his rough voice for the remainder of the lesson soaking in all the enthusiasm released by his teaching. Finally you exit the dungeon in a daze. The bell rings sharply piercing your bubble.

Once again you are pulled along the corridor by a thick stream of students. You hold lightly to the back of Abraxas's robes as he dodges skillfully between and around the other students. You struggle to keep upright as you are dragged up multiple flights of stairs tripping over almost every step.

You arrive outside your next room far before the rest of your class. This was no surprise to you as they did not, like you, know their way round the school yet and were probably all being shoved off course by the older students. You are greeted by Professor Dumbledore. Until now you hadn't taken in his appearance. He was rather old, who, you assume, is probably in around his fifties. He has scruffy dark hair with streaks of silvery grey which is slightly too short to be tied back in a pony tail. His face is slightly pointed and gives the impression of a stricter teacher however from your previous experience with him you know that really he is rather friendly. You look around the room leading to his classroom. Its circular, with only one door which is wooden and rather worn. You wonder why the lock on it is a rather old traditional style, the kind you had learnt to pick from an early age rather than a newer more difficult one, not that you couldn't pick those but because it was less common knowledge. Along the perfectly curved wall lead the staircase which you had descended only minutes before. It twisted round up to a slight balcony created by the main corridor above. The ceiling was two floors up and was a flat plain white rather like the walls, which gave the room a similar feel to a hospital. The only light in the room came from a tiny slit of a window midway up the wall opposite the staircase and by a few odd candles hung up by plain black iron stands screwed to the walls. The floor was a white marble-like stone tiling which was not a horribly shiny or glossy but a dull shade however it was not dirty in fact it was pretty much spotless. The only dirt you can see is a small pile of dust gathered by the bottom step of the staircase. Just to enhance the traditional look of the room, wooden benches were placed at regular intervals around the room, and unlike most of the wooden furniture you had seen before, it was not completely covered in graffiti, admittedly there were a few small signatures and rather a lot of lines and dots but they were mostly unmarked, and no doodles whatsoever as far as you could tell.

Eventually the remainder of your class start to arrive, far after the bell had rung for the beginning of the lesson. You sit next to Abraxas again and another girl from your house sat to your left. You pay her no attention as you listen intently to your professor speaking. His style of teaching was nothing like you had expected it to be, he was strict, yet did not rush far ahead. In his classroom he was a completely different man to the one you had met last summer. He spent the lesson explaining what transfiguration was, followed by a simple demonstration. He went through it step by step, you carefully take notes, jotting down as much detail as possible. The bell rings once again, just as you reach the door, your Professor calls out for you all to learn the spell by your next lesson with him.

You leave with Abraxas not paying any attention to the group stalking you. You sit next to him in the great hall. The same girl you sat next to in your previous lesson sits opposite you, once again not asking permission to join you. She is the first out of the three of you to speak.

'So, Abraxas, not going to introduce us then?' She grins cheekily across at the pair of you, her high pitched perfect voice was bell like and seemed to ring as she spoke. Her dark hair fell casually over one of her shoulders. It was neither dead straight nor in perfect ringlets, but had a natural yet still graceful wave to it. She had clearly not made any effort in her appearance, no make-up or anything like that, but she was still breathtakingly pretty, so much so that the majority of the male population in your house was looking at her. Her rounded face was lit up by her bright smile and rosy cheeks, and her large dark eyes looked as though they had been stolen from a princess or movie star. She clearly did not lack confidence and already seemed to know the most part of your house.

'Umm... yerh, sure.' Abraxas said forcing you to pull your eyes away from her for a second. 'Dru, this is Tom. Tom this is Druella.'

'Nice to meet you, Tom.' nodding her head towards you in greeting 'I haven't met you before? How come?'

Unsure of how to answer you stammer over your sentence, 'I... I...'

'He doesn't live with his parents. Do you Tom?'

'umm... No, they, umm, died just after I was born. Abraxas how did-'

'Do you live with relatives of yours then?'

'No, I stay at Wools.'

'What's wools?'

'umm, an, err orphanage.' you say quietly, hoping that she hadn't heard.

She laughs, 'You mean like with Muggles!?'

'Umm... sorry I don't know what you mean?'

'Muggles?' you nod 'non-magical people, squibs and such like.'

'Well then, yerh, I umm, guess so'

'Oh dear,' she sighed turning back to Abraxas 'What are you doing talking to him? You know there has never been any honorable wizards that have been brought up by muggles!' she spat the last word out as though it was dirt. 'What would your father say?'

'I...' Abraxas stammers turning his face downwards 'I... You won't tell him will you? Please Dru, and I know you like him too, I can see the curiosity written all over your face! And I'm sure he'll fit in just fine once he knows what's what. He needs our... my help to show him the ropes, and then if he's still you know' he waves his hands in your direction 'then I'll forget all about him. He wouldn't have been sorted into Slytherin if he hadn't have been pure blood. Surely you know that by now! He'd have been put with that!' he finished sharply throwing a discussed look across the hall.

'Your right, Ab. He MUST be pureblood or be the head of a vaguely decent family line. And I do admit that I do rather like him, he interests me see?'

The pair of them continue look at you curiously.

'What's your surname, Tom?'

'Riddle' You reply cautiously, not wanting to say anything wrong.

'I've never heard of them! What's your mothers maiden name?'

'I don't know, and never have, sorry. I was never told. I know nothing of either of my parents.'

'You must know something!' Abraxas interrupted.

'Only that I have my fathers name. Oh, and that my middle name, Marvolo, is taken from my mothers father. I think.'

'Well at least that's something to go on! I want to find out who you are.'

The bell rings sharply breaking up your conversation. You follow the other pair up to charms.


	8. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7 - Last week of term**

The next hour seemed to drag on for an eternity. Your teacher was not in the slightest inspiring or enthusiastic. Finally it was time for astrology. From what you'd found so far, this subject intrigued you, your future laid out in front of you, waiting to be read. You'd be more than happy to find out what was going to happen, who you are going to be, even if the subject was regarded as a joke to the other students. The classroom was on the top most floor, and even then you had to climb a ladder up through a trapdoor. This was the darkest room you'd been in so far, it was not even in the same league as the dungeons. The window was completely covered by layers of curtains blocking out even the slightest trace of daylight, making it completely impossible to see out. The tiny amount of light in the room was coming from tiny lights placed on each of the tables and covered by a collection of various scarves. This room, unlike all the others, didn't have a single desk, or chair. Each little circular coffee table was surrounded by three or four beanbags. The walls were not even visible, shadows spreading from a circle of dull light. Your nose tingles unpleasantly. The room was heavily fragranced, however, you could not for the life of you, work out what the scent was, it reminded you of a cross between an old peoples home and a charity shop. You sit in the furthest, darkest corner with both Druella and Abraxas.

After that point, the days, weeks and months, began to pass in a rushed blur. Abraxas and Druella had tried reading every book they could possibly think of in the library, they'd even stolen books from the restricted section. Yet nothing had revealed even the slightest glimpse at your ancestry. Not only had your research failed, but also every attempt you made to speak to Violet. In fact it seemed as though she was doing everything possible to avoid you, shed even gone as far as skipping meals to miss you. The only thing that had seemed to work out were the impromptu lessons Druella and Abraxas were giving you to teach you the ways of magical life. So far, you had understood and remembered everything they had taught you. They had also started teaching you to duel even though the school refused to teach students until they were at least in their third year. You had also managed to memorise everything you needed for the first years lessons and exams. You'd made your way easily to the top of all your classes and also climbing the social ladder - every slytherin in your year appeared to worship you and the other first year students all kept out of your way, even some of the older students knew you by name and kept asking you to join them at meal times.

The christmas holidays were now drawing near, only a week or so until the end of term. You'd decided to stay in school, well, you say decide, it wasn't much of a decision. It was either stay here and be treated as a god, or go 'home' and be... well... you'd stopped thinking about all of that, and had managed to lock it all away and moved on, anyway you were better than them anyway. However that still didn't mean that you were going to be rushing back. No. You much preferred your current situation, with the power. Although there were always challenges, but then again you did hold a lot of power. You found amusement in scaring off bullies, it showed that you were more important than them, and helped the other students respect you. And, if you hadn't spoken up, well no one would have, you'd been in that situation before and it wasn't good. If you didn't stand up for yourself where would you be? Back at Wools you supposed.

The excitement for the last week of term quickly died. First period you had been set homework, a study on bowtruckles and how to handle them correctly. Then second, a two foot essay on an enchantment of your choice which is to be demonstrated in front of the whole class on the first lesson back. As the week drew on, you gathered more and more homework assignments. You now had so much work that you doubted you would have any actual holiday left after finishing it. Mind you, without Abraxas and Druella in the way you could finally do as you wished.


	9. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8 - First Christmas at Hogwarts**

Finally, the first day of the holidays arrived, you help Abraxas finish packing his stuff up. Luckily he chose not to push why you had chosen to stay in school rather than return back 'home'. You follow him down to the gates to wave goodbye to your two good friends. Once you had made your way back to your common room you had been surprised to find that three more of your classmates had chosen to stay as well. You ignore their overly cheery greetings as you head up to your dorm to catch up on all of the sleep you had missed in the previous dew weeks.

Four and a half hours later you awake to bright sunlight, or rather a slightly less murky shade of green, feeling alert and awake. You decide to take a long warm shower before pulling on a pair of skinny blue jeans, which were about three sizes too big for you and only stayed up because you were wearing a belt, and a nicer plain T-shirt. Eventually you leave the dorm to head for lunch. Having to pass through the common room once more, you find your three class mates still sat there as if they hadn't moved yet. As you head towards the portrait hole they all stood and started to follow you out like obedient little puppies. You managed to ignore them the whole of the journey to the great hall however as they sat down beside you, you had no choice but to speak to them. You had managed, so far, to ignore them the whole of your journey however when you reached your destination you had no choice but to speak to them as they sat practically on top of you. Their names you already knew from sharing classes were, Thuban Nott, Albireo Rosier, Zavier Muliber and, Antonin Dolohov.

'Hi' you say awkwardly, breaking the silence. They each returned your greeting.

'How are you?' There was a general murmering of alright thanks, before Zavier finally speaks up.

'How are you?'

'I'm good' you say- knowing this to be an under exaggerasion as this was the first night in months which you haven't been woken by either an alarm or your own nightmare caused screams. Luckily you had manages to successfully cast silencing spells over your bed ever since Abraxas had started to get worried.

'We've got a lot of homework this holidays, haven't we?' He says, flicking through his diary forcing you from your thoughts.

'Yerh, we have.' You reply distantly

'At least I won't have anyone to distract me though. How come you are staying here? I thought you would much rather be with your family than with all the 'scum' left here?'

'THAT is none of your business.' You reply sharply as you stand, dragging your bag over your shoulder and leave the hall angrily.

You sit by the lake for a while still shocked at Zaviers attempted invasion of your privacy. Though you decide that as you have nothing else to do you may as well start some work.

Before you know it the light began to fade into darkness as evening finally fell.


	10. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9 - Just Another Day**

The next morning, when you wake, you decide to get ready straight away and head down for breakfast as soon as possible to avoid, if at all possible, your entourage. As you passed through the common room those already sat there started to follow you again, much to your annoyance, and it was still only the second day. You eat your breakfast hastily and head straight back up to your dorm to grab your books, if you had thought of it earlier you would have already brought them with you. You make your way to the library with all of the work which still needed to be completed - hoping to get as much of it done as possible.

By the time you arrived, you had managed to lose all but one follower, who sat opposite you at your favourite table, ignoring your glare as you sat. After you had successfully written your second essay and were halfway through copying a diagram of a bowtruckle out of the text book, you finally give in.

'Yes?' You ask sharply.

'I...I...' The boy stammered.

'Do you ACTUALLY HAVE a reason to be here in my way?'

'No. Sorry. Well not really, I mean err well...'

'Now you are here you may as well stay. Have you got any work?'

'Yes' he replies in a sort of daze, the first sentence you hear him say without stammering, if you can count it as a sentence. 'Yes I do - quiet a lot actually'

You move a few of your books out of his way while he retrieves his own from a bag laying on the floor by his feet. As soon as everything was sorted he starts his work, the comfortable silence falling over the table once more. However much to your disappointment it did not last too long as he once again started his mindless chatter about anything and everything he could think of. After a while you manage to block out his voice, returning to your work once more.

Not long after that, you find yourself out of work. You look across the table to the boy, Thuban Nott, who was still going on. You interrupt him, to tell him that you will be back in a second. You walk off, completely ignoring his reply. You walk down the library, trying to choose a book to start. After finding nothing of particular interest you decided to start at the beginning. A, ancient history, ancient potions, ancient spells, (ancient everything in fact it seems, you decide to skip the rest) antidotes, arachnids, arcomantula, arithmancy, ashwinders, astrology, augurey, and so the list went on. Still having not decided, you pick up the fist book on the first shelf, thinking you may as well see how much of the library you can learn before your friends join you again in January. Ancient animals, superstition or fact.

You return to your table, starting just after the contents. You read the creatures name, a Abaasy. This was something you had never heard of before, a small, nocturnal creature which likes to live around graves and feeds off of the dead bodies buried around it, that was all fact. And under the heading superstition, it feeds off spirits, gives out diseases one eyed one legged and one armed. You read on, as you finish the book you look up at Thuban to see him looking back at you.

'What are you doing?'

'Reading' you reply suspiciously 'why?'

'What you reading?'

'A book'

'Why?'

'Because I have nothing else to do'

'Oh, okay then'

You shake your head at the odd boy, before walking off to get some more books. You finish three more before you notice Thuban is saying something and looking at you again.

'Sorry?'

'I was just wondering whether you were going to go get some lunch or if you were just going to stay in here all day?'

'Oh, is it really that time already?' You ask receiving only a nod in reply. You put the last of your books into your bag and stand to leave, watching Thuban as you wait for him.

'I'm going via the dorms first, coming?' You ask hoping he would say no

'Yes, I was going there anyway to drop my finished work off'

He picks up his now full bag and starts to follow you out. He starts talking at you again and you begin to wonder how he managed to finish any of his work while not fully concentrating. After grabbing an extremely quick lunch hoping to avoid all followers this time you fast walk back to the library.

When you arrive you pick up ten books the maximum number students are allowed to take out at one time, and headed back down to the lake. Though cold outside it was perfect. You cast a quick warming spell creating a bubble around you and then settle in on the grass for the afternoon.

As with the day before, you were completely unaware of the time. Soon finding yourself in darkness you hadn't even noticed when you'd casted luminos to relight the pages before you. You gather the books back up into your arms, knowing it was too late to return them that night and head back to the dorms. Sticking to the shadows and trying to be as quiet as possible as it was way past curfew as you made your way across the cold stone floors.

Luckily you manage to reach the common room without incident. You drag your favourite armchair back to its place in your corner and finish off the last chapter you were reading. Having now read each of the books you finish the last of your journey up to your room. Checking all of the others are already asleep, you slip into bed after a quick silencing curse.


End file.
